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Media buying remains by necessity more of a local function, since media markets tend to be national rather than global, Mr. Glock said in an interview with Advertising Age. But he will explore global buys where possible. "We'll leverage our scale wherever appropriate, both regionally and globally."

As P&G's first manager-global media and communication, he's also charged with helping the company develop new directions in overall communications planning, including exploring more branded content and entertainment tie-ins. "That's one of the areas I consider to be excellent at connecting our brands to consumers," he said.

A major part of his new role will be to help transfer successful media strategies between regions, Mr. Glock said, noting that P&G has already applied lessons learned by Pampers in Latin America to media plans globally. He declined to elaborate on those lessons.

Mr. Glock previously directed media for Europe and Asia and direct-to-consumer marketing for Europe. He'll continue those functions as he takes on his global responsibilities effective today, splitting time between P&G's global headquarters in Cincinnati and its European headquarters in Geneva.

Improving P&G's media and communications efforts is a major focus for the fiscal year that began July 1, Global Marketing Officer Jim Stengel told P&G marketers in a recent Webcast. Mr. Glock will report to Mr. Stengel and R. Kerry Clark, vice chairman and president-global market development and business, whose market development organizations handle P&G's media buying and planning in countries around the world.

media planning

Mr. Stengel and Mr. Glock have discussed having media-planning agencies take more leadership in coordinating the work of marketing-services agencies on brands. The move by Publicis Groupe's StarcomMediaVest Group earlier this year to create a P&G-dedicated media planning unit was one step in that direction.

"I truly believe we have to change some of the approaches we have been taking," Mr. Glock said. "Key for me is to define our targets, to develop the key message and then to analyze and find the right vehicles to connect with our consumers when and where they are receptive. ... I think key is that we need to have active collaboration early in the planning stage with the media folks and the respective functional experts."

unimpressed

In Europe, Mr. Glock gained a reputation for broadening P&G's media mix to include more direct-to-consumer media, such as custom publishing or e-mail programs. As he watched the presentation of Media Lions at the International Advertising Festival in Cannes in June, he was generally unimpressed by the top Lion-winning programs, which focused mainly on TV buys.

"We know the strength of TV, and it will continue to have a very important place in our communication plans," he said last week. "But I see our brands becoming much more open and smarter in connecting with consumers by [other] appropriate means."

Publicis, primarily through Starcom, handles P&G media buying and planning in about two thirds of the world, including the U.S.

Asked whether the appointment of a global media executive presages that of a single global media agency, Mr. Glock kept his options open: "I wouldn't want to speculate now what happens in the future for agency assignments. I work very closely with our roster and media agencies globally, and I'm happy about being closer now to the global leadership of the agencies."